“What is it?”
“I’m not certain, but it looks like a female corpse.”
“How the hell did a female corpse, a human female corpse, get into space?”
“I don’t know but NASA will definitely want it for study.”
“Wait…there’s a signal coming from the metal ring around her head.”
“Translating…its English.”
The best way to efficiently deliver cargo to the Moon is basically combining several systems together. We have to eliminate the wasteful spending on single mission module and material use.
The first stage would be to use the Falcon X series of reusable rockets to send a modified MPLM (Multi-Purpose Logistics Module) into LEO. That stage of the mission is easy and already has been proven an extreme success.
The next stage of the mission would be to create a docking hub that would allow the modified MPLM to dock to while the module waited for delivery to the Moon.
The transfer hub really shouldn’t be that difficult to design either as systems from the ISS could be engineered for use in the Transfer Hub.
The most costly aspect of delivering cargo to the Moon is stage three or LEO to Lunar orbit Transfer.
Two methods could be employed to deliver cargo to the Moon and return samples and other material from the Moon to the Earth.
The base of stage three revolves around designing a craft similar to the Asteroid Capture and Return (ACR) spacecraft that would be re-engineered
to capture a MPLM/Cyngus/HTV hybrid cargo module while the module was in space and close to the Moon. The Cargo Capture and Return (CCR) spacecraft would dock with the MPLM using a docking system very similar to the Orion Crew Vehicle docking system. The CCR would capture and dock with the MPLM and then return to the Moon to perform a Lunar descent where the crew on the Moon would then retrieve the cargo module and ready the CCR for its next capture and return mission.
Another mission would involve the CCR traveling to the Transfer Hub to pick up the MPLM directly to then return it to the Moon thus establishing a need for cargo logistics management in space ports training and degree.
The reason why I chose the ACR as the base concept for the CCR is that the ACR/CCR both encapsulate the capture object thus reducing the overall height of the capture vehicle itself. The second reason the ACR was used is because the bag that surrounds the captured asteroid would provide additional protection for against UV radiation for the MPLM as well as increased micrometer protection.
The third reason is that the inner capture tube that surrounds the MPLM that the after the MPLM is slid into during capture would have additional racks that could be used for storage of smaller cargo modules.
The main point of the CCR design is that it needs to be reusable.
So basically what we are looking at is a Falcon or Bluebird Origins base of propulsion and landing systems that would also include very similar automated guidance systems.
Then couples together.
The upper portion of the CCR would be based on the Asteroid Capture and Return spacecraft but would be re-engineered to dock with a modified MPLM as well as having attachment points on the exterior of the interior storage tube.
The skirting around the interior module capture tube would lower once the CCR was on the Moon to then allow the crew to use ramps to unload the first set of cargo modules on the exterior of the interior capture tube.
Access hatches to the MPLM itself would then be removed so that the cargo module could then be unloaded.
Once the cargo of the MPLM was offloaded cargo could be loaded back into the MPLM to return to Earth. Once the CCR has launched it would deploy the MPLM that would then return to Earth under its own propulsion. Once in Earth orbit the CCR would either splash down in the ocean or it could be retrieved by a reusable rocket sent to retrieve it.
